Philadelphia Phillies: 25 Best Home-Run Bashers in Franchise History

So do managers, offenses, and front offices. Let's face it. The only people that don't dig the long ball are probably the opposing pitchers.

Who in their right mind can't get behind a home run? There's just something about it. The sound that the ball makes when it cracks against the bat. The majestic arch it creates as it sails over the other team's head. The roar of the fans when it finally hits the seats.

It's one of the greatest moments in baseball and there are no two ways about it. The long ball is just exciting.

Well the Philadelphia Phillies know this first hand. Their history books hold the names of some of the most thrilling home run hitters of all-time. You're going to see Mike Schmidt and Ryan Howard on this list. I don't think that's a spoiler.

But the Phillies also have had plenty of underrated power hitters. They've had guys nicknamed for their brute strength and guys that you wouldn't have expected on a list like this in a million years, but baseball is timeless, and that's what makes it great.

25. Raul Ibanez

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Raul Ibanez's Phillies tenure is going to be looked back on as a failure as a whole—thanks in no small part to Ruben Amaro Jr. overpaying for his services—but there were certainly some things that worked for both he and the Phillies.

The biggest was probably the fact that Ibanez was somewhat of an underrated power hitter. After hitting 34 home runs in his first season in Philadelphia, Ibanez went deep 16 and 20 times, respectively, to round out his contract.

24. Don Demeter

The Phillies weren't very good during the early 1960s, but Don Demeter was.

Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for a pair of players, Demeter turned out to be a wise investment. He hit 20 home runs in just 106 games with the Phillies in 1961, leaving the fans hopeful that they had found a legitimate power threat.

Demeter never improved much beyond that number, but was still a decent power hitter. He hit 29 and 22 home runs in his final two seasons as a Phillie, mashing 71 over his nearly three-year tenure.

The Phillies would later trade him to the Detroit Tigers for Hall of Famer Jim Bunning.

23. Deron Johnson

Deron Johnson was a bit of an underrated home run hitter, but things like that tend to happen when you play for the Phillies in the early 1970s as he did.

The Phillies purchased him from the Atlanta Braves prior to the 1969 season and it looked to be a wise investment. Then 30-years-old, Johnson hit 17 home runs in his first season with the Phillies.

He improved upon that number the next season when he hit 24 home runs and even still the year after that when he popped 34 more.

After a major power outage in 1972, however, the Phillies gave up on him early in 1973. They traded him to the Oakland Athletics, where he would hit 19 home runs, for a minor league player that never reached MLB.

22. Dolph Camilli

Dolph Camilli was hitting home runs for the Phillies before hitting home runs was cool.

During the 1934-37 seasons, when Camilli was playing for the Phillies, baseball was still adjusting to the home run ball. On a level plane, it was kind of a new concept—a shift away from the more tactical run scoring game.

Camilli was ahead of the curve, both figuratively and literally. He hit 92 home runs in four seasons with the Phillies, including 28 and 27 home run seasons in 1935 and 1936, respectively.

21. Jayson Werth

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Jayson Werth has had an interesting career.

After suffering a severe wrist injury as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, many expected that his power potential had dipped dramatically, but the Phillies were not convinced. They took a chance on him and he eventually evolved into an everyday right fielder.

In four seasons with the Phillies, Werth developed into a $100 million player. Well, that's debatable, but you get the point.

After hitting just eight home runs in 2007 as a part-time player, Werth would go on to hit at least 20 home runs in each of the next three seasons, including a mark of 36 in 2009.

20. Gavvy Cravath

When you talk about players breaking the mold, Gavvy Cravath is one of the first guys that comes to my mind.

Cravath, a right fielder who spent nine seasons with the Phillies from 1912-20, was certainly a unique offensive player.

He was a power hitter in a time where power was a rare part of the game. He laughed in the face of slap hitters and contact oriented players and wanted to drive the ball over the wall in every at-bat. He did so fairly often for his time period.

Cravath, who hit 117 home runs with the Phillies, led the league in long balls six times.

19. Don Hurst

Don Hurst isn't much of a household name these days, but opposing pitchers were certainly well aware of who he was when he stepped into the batter's box. They knew that they had to approach him carefully.

Hurst, who came into the Phillies' organization as a 22-year-old greenhorn in 1928, spent seven seasons playing first base.

He was a presence at the plate. After hitting 19 home runs in his rookie campaign, Hurst posted double digits in the home run column in all but two seasons with the Phillies, launching 112 in his Phillies career.

18. Andy Seminick

The Phillies have a couple of underrated power hitters on this list and most of them are catchers, but then again, most good hitting catchers do tend to be a bit underrated in some aspects.

Among those catchers was Andy Seminick, a former All-Star for the Phillies and member of the famous 1950 "Whiz Kids."

Seminick spent two different tours of duty with the Phillies from 1943-51 and then 1955-57, totaling 12 seasons.

Over that span of time, Seminick hit 123 home runs for the Phillies, including a pair of back-to-back 24 home run seasons in 1949-50, where he was a veteran presence in a young clubhouse at just 30-years-old.

16. Willie Jones

Willie Jones played third base for the Phillies for a long time and that's a good thing for the franchise.

The man known as "Puddin' Head" spent 13 seasons with the Phillies. Signed as an amateur free agent as a 21-year-old rookie in 1947, Jones would go on to become an All-Star and MVP candidate for the Phillies.

Though Jones' career high in home runs was just 25, he posted double digits in the home run column in 10 of his 13 seasons as a Phillie.

When the Phillies traded him to the Cleveland Indians in 1959, Jones had hit 180 home runs for the club.

14. Mike Lieberthal

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Mike Lieberthal just might have been a better hitter than he was a catcher, and Lieberthal was a darn good catcher.

Drafted in 1990 and making his MLB debut in 1994, Lieberthal had the unfortunate distinction of making his first big league appearance the year after the Phillies were last in the postseason (1993) before leaving prior to the 2007 season, the first year they'd be back.

In total, Lieberthal spent 13 seasons with the Phillies and hit 150 home runs, including an impressive 1999 season where he hit 31 home runs and was named to his first of two consecutive All-Star Games.

13. Scott Rolen

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Scott Rolen will be booed by Phillies fans for the rest of his life, but if there is one thing that you just can't take away from him, it is the fact that the man is the greatest third baseman to ever play for the Phillies not named Mike Schmidt.

But that's beside the point in regards to this slide show. We all know that Rolen has power.

Drafted by the Phillies in 1993, Rolen would make his MLB debut three seasons later in 1996 and give Phillies fans the sense of hope that they had desperately been seeking.

A year later, Rolen would go on to hit 21 home runs in his rookie season and capture the Rookie of the Year Award.

In seven seasons, the All-Star third baseman hit 150 home runs as a member of the Phillies.

12. Johnny Callison

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Johnny Callison was the face of the Phillies during the 1960s.

Acquired from the Chicago White Sox prior to the 1960 season, Callison would go on to give the Phillies a marquee name in the outfield for a decade before he joined the Chicago Cubs via trade before the 1970 season.

Callison was an excellent all-around player and there is no doubt that power was a strong part of his game. The outfielder hit more than 30 home runs twice with the Phillies and slugged 185 home runs over his 10-year Phillies career.

11. Bobby Abreu

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Bobby Abreu may not be the most well liked player in the history of the Phillies, but there is no denying the fact that he was one of, if not the, most dynamic five-tool players this organization has ever seen.

While some areas of his game left something to be desired, his power did not. Abreu was known for going off on crazy stretches of power and in his prime, was a legitimate middle of the order threat with the bat.

A former Home Run Derby winner, Abreu spent nine seasons with the Phillies and slugged 195 home runs. He hit more than 20 home runs seven different times with the club.

9. Cy Williams

If there's any one surprise on this list, it's probably Cy Williams.

Williams wasn't your traditional power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, but the man had a proficiency for the long ball.

The center fielder spent a whopping 13 seasons as a member of the Phillies and hit 217 home runs. Williams hit at least 15 home runs in seven different seasons including the 1923 campaign where he led the league with 41 home runs.

8. Dick Allen

In the prime of his career, Allen looked like he could roll out of bed and hit the longest home run you've ever seen, but it didn't take him that long to become a nightmare for opposing pitchers.

Allen spent two different tours of duty with the Phillies, the first from 1963-69 and the second from 1975-76.

The man was just a hulking presence. In nine seasons with the Phillies, Allen hit at least 20 home runs six times. That includes the 1966 season, when the "Wampum Walloper" hit 40 home runs and somehow finished fourth in MVP voting.

Allen would eventually get his MVP Award, however, as a member of the Chicago White Sox and later retire with 351 home runs.

6. Del Ennis

Del Ennis may just be the most underrated power hitter in the history of this organization, because long before there were power threats like Mike Schmidt, Ryan Howard, and Greg Luzinski, there was Del Ennis.

A big left fielder from Pennsylvania, the Phillies signed Ennis as an amateur free agent in 1943 and he would go on to become one of the key cogs in the lineup of the fabled "Whiz Kids" in 1950.

Ennis spent 11 seasons in Philadelphia and during that time became one of the league's greatest power threats. After spending 1944 and 1945 in the military, Ennis made his MLB debut in 1946 and hit 17 home runs.

After hitting just 12 in the following seasons, Ennis would go on a power tear, hitting at least 20 home runs in all but one season from 1948-57.

For his Phillies career, Ennis slugged 259 home runs and paved the way for future sluggers.

5. Chuck Klein

In the prime of his career, Chuck Klein could do whatever he wanted at the plate. The man pretty much hit home runs whenever he felt like it. Or he'd triple if he felt like going for a run. Maybe drive in a couple of runs every now and then.

You know, whatever was on his mind at the moment.

Seriously though, there was a time where pitchers just couldn't get Klein out. The outfielder spent 15 seasons with the Phillies, but his first stint with the club—from 1928-33—was exponentially more impressive.

Klein led the league in nearly every offensive category at least once over that span, including home runs, a feat which he accomplished four times.

For his Phillies career, Klein hit an impressive 243 home runs. Don't forget, the home run ball wasn't exactly at the height of its popularity just yet.

4. Pat Burrell

When the Phillies made Pat Burrell the first overall pick of the 1998 draft, they tagged him with some lofty expectations.

He was supposed to develop into the next cornerstone of the franchise, and while that never happened, he was definitely one hell of a hitter.

Sure, Burrell never became the "complete" hitter that some scouts thought he could, but Burrell was an excellent power hitter. The man hit at least 20 home runs in eight of his nine seasons as a Phillie, including four seasons with at least 30 home runs.

In just nine seasons, Burrell hit 253 home runs. He may not be a Hall of Famer, but heck, that's impressive.

3. Jim Thome

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In some ways, I'm kind of giving Jim Thome the benefit of the doubt here, not that he needs any.

Thome, who has already hit more than 600 home runs in his career and has already punched his ticket for Cooperstown, really doesn't need an explanation to be on this list, but I'm going to give you one anyway.

As always, I'm looking at numbers that related specifically to each player's tenure with the Phillies here, so in that case, Thome's 101 home runs with the Phillies aren't as impressive as a guy like, for example, Pat Burrell, who spent the majority of his career here.

After all, that's just roughly 16% of Thome's career home runs.

However, if there's one thing that really sticks out to me about Thome, it is the frequency in which he hit home runs with the Phillies. No player in the history of this franchise has done it more frequently than Thome, who is the organization's all-time leader in at-bats / home run at 13.3.

That reason alone makes putting Thome third on this list worth it for me.

2. Ryan Howard

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It didn't take Ryan Howard long to make his mark on the Phillies.

After future Hall of Famer Jim Thome went down with an injury in 2005, the Phillies called on Howard to fill in for him and he did so with ease, mashing 22 home runs in just 88 games that season en route to winning the Rookie of the Year Award.

A year later, Howard would 58 more home runs to set the Phillies' all-time, single season record. Not bad for two years of work.

Of course, Howard would go on to continue mashing baseballs until he began a rather premature decline in 2010, followed by a slew of lower body injuries, including the severe torn Achilles, that have helped to sap some of his power.

Even still, Howard has hit 294 home runs in nine seasons. Now that's an impressive mark.

1. Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt at the top of an all-time Phillies list? Who would have guessed it?

Well, a lot of people. Any fan with a passing knowledge of the Phillies' history should have opened this list and expected to see Michael Jack Schmidt at the top.

Schmidt, who made his MLB debut in 1972, would spend his entire 18-season career as a member of the Phillies. During that time, he established himself as one of the greatest power hitters to ever live.

Schmidt led the league in home runs eight different times. He hit at least 40 home runs three times and at least 30 home runs in 13 of his 18 seasons.

For his career, Schmidt hit 548 home runs. Enough said.

You don't get to be a three-time MVP Award winner without being naturally gifted, and Mike Schmidt was just naturally gifted with the ability to repetitively hit baseballs a long way.